The offer was 120 euros
August 23 the district council approved the proposal to allocate 120 euros monthly compensation for private kindergartens for children, if the declared place of residence of one of the parents (guardians) and the child is in the territory of the Vilnius district municipality. This decision was not yet final, just a submission.
The proposal of the social democrat Robert Duchnevičius, mayor of the Vilnius district, received the support of politicians, but the criticism expressed by some members of the council already signaled that it might not be very easy to make the same final decision.
Already during the presentation, there were statements that the project is “a kind of thanks to the Landsberg clan for their support during the elections”, referring to the business of Austėja Landsbergienė, the wife of conservative leader Gabrielias Landsbergis – private kindergartens and schools.
It was also discussed in the committees, but at least for now there is not a single “Vaikystės sodo” kindergarten established by A. Landsbergienė in the Vilnius district.
Read more here: In the Vilnius district – strange decisions: LLRA proposes to reduce the compensation of 120 euros for a private kindergarten to 25 euros.
Organized pickets
Because of this compensation, the parents even organized two pickets at the Vilnius district municipality, trying to draw attention to the fact that families choose private institutions in the district not because of the pursuit of luxury, but simply because they have no other option.
There is a great shortage of kindergartens in the settlements of the district around the capital.
The settlements of Avižieniei, Riešės, Buivydiškii, Bukiškis are expanding a lot, the population is increasing, young families are forming and raising children.
The opposition did not agree
The same arguments were made at Monday’s council meeting. The opposition proposed not to support the proposal of LLRA-KŠS representative Renata Sobieska to reduce compensation to 25 euros, Freedom Party representative Daniel Ilkevičius suggested returning to the initial proposal, which the council has already approved. Because it is said that the proposed decision of the majority does not really solve any problems of kindergartens in the district.
LLRA-KŠS representative Teresa Demeško, while agreeing to the proposal to reduce compensation to 25 euros, in her turn offered several more ways to help parents – it is said that it is only necessary to “simply speed up the construction of municipal kindergartens”, and it could also be considered to compensate parents for transport to district kindergartens, where there are free places .
“It’s just going to be an investment in the future and some kind of opportunity to influence the upbringing of children – to foster Christian values and not genderist values,” she declared, to a standing ovation from the opposition.
“Thank you for something here,” the mayor also fainted after this speech.
A little later, D. Ilkevičius apologized for such a statement of her colleague in the council – she urged T. Demeško not to forget that she represents all residents of the district, not to divide them according to appearance, nationality, gender, sexual orientation, etc.
A proposal that demeans the population.
Liberal Stasys Mušeikis said that it is difficult to talk about the proposal of LLRA-KŠS representative Renata Sobieska, because it is a “humiliating proposal for the residents”.
Modular kindergartens are also being planned
Vladislavas Kondratovičius, director of the administration of the Vilnius district municipality, said that they are currently looking for opportunities to build modular kindergartens. The mayor said that after the administration finds out where and how those kindergartens can be built, a draft decision will be submitted to the council.
In the Vilnius district, the possibility of building at least two such kindergartens should be considered – in the western and eastern parts, because otherwise parents would have to travel not only through the entire district, but also through the city of Vilnius itself.
As Waldemar Urban said, LLRA-KŠS wants a complex solution, so it is said that lower compensation is also help for parents, because until now there was none at all. However, it is necessary to build municipal kindergartens.
Lukas Balandis / BNS photo/Picket in front of the Vilnius District Municipality – a picket regarding reduced compensation for private kindergartens.
However, Mayor R. Duchnevičius urged to return to the original decision and approve the compensation of 120 euros.
Parents’ representatives also spoke at the council meeting. One of them said that even 120 euros would be a small amount of support, that paying young families 500 euros every month for the education of one child is a very large amount.
Another mother, Jurga Ralytė, asked not to emphasize the fact that there are free places in kindergartens in the district, because they are usually located where there is no need. “So this is just an example of poor administration,” said J. Ralytė.
She also emphasized that parents whose children did not enter municipal kindergartens are not to blame. Therefore, the principles of equality should be applied and if those who got into public kindergarten pay the appropriate amount, those who didn’t get in and chose a private institution must pay the same amount.
However, the final decision of the council is the same as proposed by LLRA-KŠS – the compensation will only be 25 euros per month, which will probably be a very significant amount for a rare family, when private kindergartens cost up to 500 euros each month.
There are many waiting
September 7 of Vilnius District Municipality. according to the data, of the total number of children waiting to be registered in the Vilnius district and who chose an institution for pre-school and pre-school education here as their first choice, there were 92 in regional institutions and 73 in institutions established by the Ministry of Education, Science and Sports.
And here are the children who would like to attend kindergartens in Vilnius district, although they are not registered here, there are much more – 281 are waiting for district institutions and another 164 for ministries.
Only a few of them did not get into institutions with the Polish language of education, all the rest – into Lithuanian.
The majority of those waiting are in Avižienii precinct.
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